JDF Imposition For Layout Optimiser

Metrix, the layout optimiser from Lithotechnics, now allows JDF controlled imposition, giving quicker, predictable results for ganged jobs, said the company.

Metrix, the layout optimiser from Lithotechnics, now allows JDF controlled imposition, giving quicker, predictable results for ganged jobs, said the company.

In previous versions Metrix relied on third party desktop imposition packages, like Kodak Preps, to handle content.

Now it is possible, within a JDF enabled pre-press workflow, using JDF tagged PDFs generated in Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional, to fully automate imposition production.

"Anyone with a copy of Creative Suite 2 can produce the right sort of PDFs and a wide range of pre-press workflows already handle JDF data, so this simplifies the production process and makes turnround of ganged jobs faster," said Alan Dixon, the technical director of Positive Focus, the distributors of Metrix in the UK.

He added: 'This product has already been tested with Agfa Apogee X, Kodak Prinergy, Screen Trueflow, Heidelberg Printready and the Harlequin Genesis RIP with JDF enabler, plus a number of more specialised workflow products.

This is an alternative way of working.

We can still produce Preps templates, but in a JDF environment there is now no requirement for a desktop imposition solution to output a Metrix ganged job." Metrix 1.7 is claimed to support up to 160 products with different sizes, shapes and numbers on a single press run, providing greater flexibility for the types of jobs routinely ganged together.

For example, 124 separate business cards are commonly printed on a B1 sheet.

Metrix also finds a place in point of purchase printing where large format digital presses need to make best use of expensive substrates.

The automatic layout calculator in Metrix 1.7 has added intelligence, according to Positive Focus.

Metrix can now group products separately on the sheet, for instance, keeping heavily inked products separate from lightly inked ones by setting the product group property of each product.

Product groups are user-defined with an associated display colour for easy identification.

Metrix can also automatically insert a user-definable alley between each group for subsequent trimming and handling.

Press sheet marks can be defined and placed in Metrix 1.7 and are passed to the JDF enabled RIP or desktop imposition package for output.

Product instances can be flipped to allow, for example, a common spot colour to be applied to one side only of the sheet.

Metrix 1.7 gives users complete control over the individual pages of a product.

Individual pages can be rotated for products such as calendars, or to accommodate complex products that combine portrait and landscape-oriented pages.

In addition, the 'combine pages' function, introduced in Metrix 1.6, can cater for content for a folded product provided as a 'flat' rather than as individual panels.

At the same time, the feature exports JDF folding instructions based on the individual panels for pre-press and finishing.

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